The school is named for Townsend Harris, who besides his many diplomatic accomplishments, had helped found the Free Academy of the City of New York, later to become City College, and was a strong proponent of free education. The Free Academy's introductory year gradually evolved and in 1904 became a full fledged, 3-year high school, housed on three floors of what is now Baruch College[3] This original incarnation, known as Townsend Harris Hall, survived until 1942 when it was closed by mayor Fiorello La Guardia. La Guardia's officially stated reason was budgetary concerns, but it has been suggested that he had ulterior motives.[4]

Townsend Harris High School was refounded in 1984 thanks largely to the efforts of alumni of the original school, who had begun the process in 1980. The first principal was Malcolm Largmann, a former high school English teacher with a strong belief in a classically styled education who also handpicked the school's original faculty.[citation needed] The new school began life in a small building on Parsons Boulevard, originally intended as a temporary home until a permanent facility could be realized. In early 1995, the school moved into a new building located on the campus of Queens College.

Originally entrance to the school was based on competitive examination.[5] Today high grades are required.[6]

Today, well over 5,000 students compete for approximately 270 seats in the freshman class each year based on their middle school grades, standardized test scores and even attendance records. Admission is available to all New York City residents in 8th grade. A minimum grade point average of 90 is required of all applicants to be considered for admission. Minimum standardized reading and math scores at the 90th percentile are also required (682 for reading and 713 for math).[7]

Some seats are available for 9th graders wishing to start Townsend as sophomores, though as the number depends on the number of students who decide to leave the school during freshman year the number varies significantly from year to year; in 2006, only 5 were available.[7]

Initially, the admissions process really included an interview and a writing component, but this was eliminated by 1988. Upon matriculation, students take a writing and math exam.[citation needed]

In addition to the standard three-year Regents English program, all students take a "fifth year" of English as freshman in the form of classes in linguistics and writing processes. In addition to the standard modern language requirement which may be fulfilled with classes in Spanish, French or Japanese, students must have a two-year classical language requirement which can be fulfilled by classes in Latin or classical Greek (in addition, Hebrew is offered as an elective course). There is also a rigorous physical education requirement, especially freshman gym, and a senior project required of students. A variety of electives and AP classes are also offered to students. As of 2004, AP World History became a mandatory subject and replaced the Regents-level course. Every subject requires students to execute at least one major project a year, with history classes requiring one per semester and English several per semester. These projects are referred to as "collaterals."

The most notable feature of the school's curriculum is the senior "bridge year" program. Students in good standing may take up to 12 credits at Queens College at no cost to themselves. This includes a required humanities seminar co-taught by Harris teachers and Queens College faculty. Though the class is offered by the college, it is open exclusively to Harris students. The curriculum and format is fairly similar to the Great Books seminars required of liberal arts freshman at colleges around the world.

In sharp contrast with the original school which was open to male students only, the new school has been dominated by female students from its inception, today comprising approximately 70% of the student population.[8]

As of 2006, the school's minority population is largely Asian, with the New York City Department of Education's "Asian and other" category making up 44% of the student body total, comprising the largest segment of the school's population. White students comprise 37% of the population, Hispanic students 12% and black students 7%.[9]

Fitting this classical standard of education all new students are required to recite the Ephebic Oath during the Founders' Day ceremony, celebrated each fall. Students recapitulate the oath at the commencement ceremony upon their graduation. The translation employed by the school is as follows:

I shall never bring disgrace to my city, nor shall I ever desert my comrades in the ranks; but I, both alone and with my many comrades, shall fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city.

I shall willingly pay heed to whoever renders judgment with wisdom and shall obey both the laws already established and whatever laws the people in their wisdom shall establish.

I, alone and with my comrades, shall resist anyone who destroys the laws or disobeys them.

I shall not leave my city any less but rather greater than I found it.

The attendance rate is the highest in NYC.[11] Scores on standardized examinations are also high when compared to other public high schools; in the year 2005-2006, Harrisites had average scores of 628 and 632 on the SAT verbal and math sections, respectively, compared to 551 and 565 for what the city deems "similar schools" and 444 and 467 for students citywide.[12] In 2000 Eileen F. Lebow published a history of the original school, The Bright Boys: A History of Townsend Harris High School (ISBN 0-313-31479-9).

The Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Foundation named Harris a 21st Century School of Distinction in June 2004.[13] In December of that year, the school was named a Lighthouse School by the same organization.

In 2005 and 2006, the school had the highest percentage of students passing Regents exams of any high school in the city.[14]

2006-2007 Highest Percentage Passing AP World History Scores in the USA for a Large School [15]

^"The school was still in its quarters at 23d Street and Lexington Avenue, occupying a spartan campus on the 9th to 12th floors of the building which now houses CUNY’s Baruch College." Summer 2005 Townsend Harris Alumni Magazine, p.10

^Beichman, Arnold (2004, 2009), Herman Wouk: the novelist as social historian (2nd ed.), Piscatawway, NJ, USA: Transaction Publishers, ISBN978-0-7658-0836-3, (p. 15) Wouk was the youngest of three children ... He attended Townsend Harris High School, an elite public school for high IQ New York youngsters ...Check date values in: |date= (help)

^Weber, Bruce (9 September 2009), "Army Archerd, Columnist for Variety, Dies at 87", New York Times, retrieved 1 January 2011, Armand André Archerd was born in New York City ... He attended Townsend Harris High School and City College of New York ...

^ abSaperstein, Pat (14 May 2008). "Warren Cowan dies at 87: PR maven "father of Hollywood press agents"". obituary. Variety. Retrieved 2 January 2011. Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd and Cowan became best friends when they were 12 ... Cowan was born in New York to songwriter Rubey Cowan and wife Grace and attended Townsend Harris High School with Archerd.

^ abPollack, Howard (2006), George Gershwin: his life and work, Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California Press, ISBN978-0-520-24864-9, (p. 224) By 1916, Gershwin had also begun writing songs with Irving Caesar ... Caesar, a tunesmith in his own right, had grown up on the Lower East Side, and like Ira had graduated from Townsend Harris ...

^Weber, Bruce (16 May 2008), "Warren Cowan, a Star at Promoting Stars, Dies at 87", New York Times, retrieved 2 January 2011, Warren Jay Cowan was born in New York City on March 13, 1921. His father, Rubey, was a songwriter. He went to Townsend Harris High School in Manhattan

^Bloom, Ken (2007), The Routledge guide to Broadway, New York, NY, USA: Routledge, ISBN0-415-97380-5, (p. 58) Howard Dietz was born in New York ... He attended Townsend Harris Hall and Columbia University.

^"Ervin Drake". biographic sketch. Song Writers Hall of Fame. 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2011. He was born Ervin Maurice Druckman in New York City on April 3, 1919. He attended Townsend Harris Hall, and then the City College of New York

^ abBloom, Ken (2007), The Routledge guide to Broadway, New York, NY, USA: Routledge, ISBN0-415-97380-5, (p. 106) E. Y. ("Yip") Harburg was perhaps Broadway's most complex lyricist ... He began as a lyricist while still at New York City's Townsend Harris Hall High School along with schoolmate Ira Gershwin

^Riley, Sam G. (1995), Biographical dictionary of American newspaper columnists, Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Press, ISBN0-313-29192-6, (pp. 129-130) Hellinger was born in New York City ad attended the city's public schools. He was expelled from Townsend Harris High School for organizing a student strike.

^Bloom, Ken (2007), The Routledge guide to Broadway, New York, NY, USA: Routledge, ISBN0-415-97380-5, (p. 148) Frank Loesser was the most versatile of all Broadway composers ... He was educated at Townsend Harris Hall and dropped out of City College.

^Rodgers, Richard; Rodgers, Mary (2002) [1975], Musical Stages: An Autobiography (3rd ed.), Cambridge, MA, USA: Da Capo Press, ISBN0-306-81134-0, (p. 18) This victory in part was responsible in part for my downfall at Townsend Harris, and started a pattern I was to follow for the rest of my scholastic life: I always devoted too much time to nonacademic matters.

^Hyland, William G. (1998), Richard Rodgers, New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Press, ISBN0-300-07115-9, Richard enrolled at the prestigious Townsend Harris Hall, a high school reserved for talented young boys ... Academic pursuits did not attract Rodgers, however, and he transferred to the more pedestrian De Witt Clinton High School

^Rothstein, Mervyn (1 September 2009). "A Life in the Theatre: Charles Strouse". interview. Playbill.com. Retrieved 2 January 2010. I went to P.S. 87 and Townsend Harris High School, and when it was time to go to college I went to music school.

^Sponberg, Arvid, F. (1991), Broadway talks: what professionals think about commercial theater in America, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, ISBN0-313-26687-5, (p. 97) Charles Strouse the composer of By Bye Birdie and Annie, among other musicals, was born in New York City in 1928. He received his education at P.S. 87, Townsend Harris High School, and the Eastman School of Music.

^Brody, Seymour "Sy" (18 July 2008). "Kenneth J. Arrow: Nobel Prize in Economics Recipient". biographic sketch. Florida Atlantic University Libraries. Retrieved 2 January 2011. Arrow was born on August 23, 1921, in New York City. His parents were Jewish and very supportive of his education. He graduated Townsend Harris High School and went to City College of New York ...

^Weiss, Samuel (10 June 1985), "THE NEW TOWNSEND HARRIS HIGH KEEPS OLD GOALS", New York Times, retrieved 2 January 2011, In 1942, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia ordered the closing of Townsend Harris High School as a nonessential educational unit. In its 36-year existence, the school had won a national reputation, producing such graduates as Dr. Jonas E. Salk, the discoverer of a polio vaccine; Kenneth Arrow, a winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science ...

^"The Best Queens Celebirities 2002". list of notable persons from the Borough of Queens. Queens Tribune. 2002. Retrieved 2 January 2011. Eugene Lang - The philanthropist graduated from Townsend Harris High School in 1934.

^Levy, Leon; Linden, Eugene (2002), The Mind of Wall Street: A Legendary Financier on the Perils of Greed and the Mysteries of the Market, New York, NY, USA: PublicAffairs (Perseus Books Group), ISBN1-58648-208-4, ... (pp. x-xi) I might as well 'fess up to some intimate details of my relationship with Leon Levy. Leon and I have known each other since high school and college ... just about all these qualities were visible when we were in Townsend Harris High School together sixty years ago.

^Martin, Douglas (8 April 2003), "Leon Levy, Philanthropist, Dies at 77", New York Times, retrieved 2 January 2011, Leon Levy, a hedge fund pioneer ... went on to make many millions, enough to make him one of the main individual backers of archaeological research ... The younger Mr. Levy graduated from Townsend Harris High School in Manhattan in 1939 and from the City College of New York in 1948.

^"Paid Notice: Deaths WEISSMAN, GEORGE", New York Times, 29 July 2009, retrieved 2 January 2011, George Weissman attended the famed Townsend Harris High School, located on the City College campus.

^Cohen, Felix S.; Wilkins (ed.), David Eugene (2006), On the drafting of tribal constitutions, Norman, OK, USA: University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN0-8061-3806-8, (p. xiv) Felix Cohen was born in New York City ... He attended Towsend Harris High School in New York.

^Moritz, Owen (24 June 1999), "RUDOLPH HALLEY STREAK OF LIGHT", New York Times, retrieved 2 January 2011, UT POLITICAL life did not turn out quite the way Rudolph Halley had hoped. He was a seminal New York story ... The child prodigy graduated elite Townsend Harris High School in Queens at 14